Hadrian's Gate (Antalya)

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Hadrian's Gate in Antalya

The representative Hadrian's Gate ( Turkish : Üçkapılar = "the three gates") in the Turkish Mediterranean metropolis of Antalya , the ancient Attaleia , is one of the city's oldest and most important sights.

Building history

Hadrian's Gate (detail photo)

The gate of honor integrated into the city wall and flanked by two towers was built on the occasion of a visit by the Roman emperor Hadrian . Since Hadrian traveled to Asia Minor between 121 and 125 AD and between 128 and 132 AD, the dating of the building is controversial.

The building had two dedicatory inscriptions, of which the no longer preserved bears the title Olympios . The emperor adopted this title in AD 129, which is why this inscription could only have been added after this point in time. At least the southern one of the towers to the side of the gate was dedicated to Hadrian's sister, Domitia Paulina, by Iulia Sancta. Since the sister died shortly after Antinous around 130 AD, the tower must have been donated before Hadrian's second journey.

The other inscription, affixed with gilded letters on the architrave of the arch, does not itself provide any reference to the date. But it could be related to the first trip. It remains unclear whether the emperor actually visited Attaleia on this trip. Since such visits were announced well in advance of the actual trip, it is assumed that the city, which is named in the inscription that has not been preserved as the founder and client, prepared with the construction of the honor gate, whose construction time in the case earlier in the Years soon after AD 120. On the occasion of the actual visit or the second trip, the second inscription would have been added. The southern defense tower may have been built around the same time or shortly before that , so that the gate was probably never free.

Under the Seljuk Sultan Kai Kobad I , the right tower was built in the 13th century. The building underwent a thorough restoration in 1959/60, during which some columns were replaced.

Architecture and ornamentation

Hadrian's Gate, details of the architectural ornamentation

At first glance, the three-arched gate construction resembles an ancient arch of honor , but is not free, but was - at least on one side - attached to another building. All three passages have the same width of 4.15 meters at a height of 6.18 meters to the top of the arch, measured from the ancient pavement level, which is about one meter below today's street level due to later earth and rubble pouring. On both sides of the gate, the arches are framed by four presented columns of composite order . These columns rise on free-standing pedestals , their shafts are not fluted and made of gray granite, while the remaining visible parts of the building were made of white marble. The columns stand on Attic bases and are 4.94 meters high with a lower diameter of 0.51 meters. Its composite capitals are decorated with acanthus leaves in two registers, the rest of the capital body is covered with grooved pipe sticks. They are stylistically close to the capitals of the Celsus Library in Ephesus, which were built around the same time .

While the arches were evenly spaced, the distance between the columns to the left and right of the central passage was increased by 22 centimeters. The 1.28 meter high entablature is cranked above the pillars . Its architrave , which originally carried the foundation inscription in metal letters, is divided into two smooth bands ( fascia ) that are richly set off from one another with ornaments: pearl rod and lesbian leaf kyma crown the lower fascia, a sequence of pearl rod, egg rod and leaf kyma crown the upper fascia . In a located frieze of highly akanthisierten evenly rhythmic waves entwine whose instincts in large flowers, rosettes end and leaf fronds. With their three-dimensional stems and acanthus goblets, they fill almost the entire frieze surface, but the relief ground is neatly smoothed and worked out. This is followed by a dental incisal ridge framed by ovarian rods above and below . The geison above is designed as a simple ionic hanging plate. The sima , which closes the entablature, is decorated with regularly distributed lion heads, between which an anthemion of four palmettes and three lotus blossoms mediate. On the front sides of the cranked entablature sections above the pillars, a lion's head is attached in the middle between anthems.

The arches themselves are decorated with inlaid, flat cassettes , each of which contains rosette and flower ornaments framed by ovules. The central pylons of the gate are so narrow that the archivolts of the arches they support meet. In contrast, the wider outer pylons end in flat anterior pillars with corresponding anticapitals .

The gate reaches a height of 8.03 meters up to the upper edge of the framework. It is not possible to get a precise idea of the once existing upper floor, which was named after Francis Beaufort , who examined Antalya in 1812, and which bore the second inscription. Since Beaufort saw the remains of a total of 14 columns and only mentions four of the larger lower order, the upper floor is also possessed of column positions and has taken up the remaining ten columns. At the end of the 19th century, only the lowest stone layer of the upper floor was preserved. On top of it were two square pillar bases which, with a yoke width of 2.36 meters, had no axis relation to the column position of the lower storey. No more traces of the Beaufort columns have been found.

literature

Web links

Commons : Hadrian's Gate (Antalya)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ On the dating, which fluctuates between 121/22 and 130, see also: Susanne Schorndorfer: Public Buildings Hadrianischer Zeit in Asia Minor. Archaeological-historical research (= Charybdis. Volume 14). Lit-Verlag, Münster 1997, pp. 195 ff .; Lutgarde Vandeput: The Architectural Decoration in Roman Asia Minor. Sagalassos: A Case Study (= Studies in Eastern Mediterranean Archeology. Volume 2). Brepols, Löwen 1997, p. 34 and passim.
  2. ↑ Nihal Tüner Önen: Hadrian traveling in the eastern Mediterranean based on new inscriptions from Phaselis. In: Adalya. Volume 16, 2013, pp. 93-106 ( online ).
  3. ↑ Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas pertinentes (IGR) III 771: [Αὐτοκράτορι Καίσ] αρι, θεοῦ Τραιανοῦ Παρθικοῦ υἱῷ [θεοῦ Νέρουα υἱωνῷ / Τραιανῷ Ἁδριανῷ Σεβα] στῷ, Ὀλυμπίῳ, ἀρχι [ερ] εῖ μεγίστῳ, δημαρχικῆς [ἐξουσίας τὸ ιε ' / ὑπάτῳ τὸ γ ′ πατρὶ πατρίδος], σωτῆρι τῆς οἰκουμένης ἡ βουλὴ καὶ [ὁ δῆμος] ( digitized = CIG 4339b ).
  4. ^ Anthony R. Birley : Hadrian. The Restless Emperor. Routledge, London et al. 1997, p. 215 f.
  5. ↑ IGR III 773: Σεβαστοῦ ἀδελ / φὴν Παυλείναν Ἰουλία / Σάνκτα ( digitized = CIG 4340 ); Hansgerd Hellenkemper: Attalos and Attaleia. In: Taner Korkut (Ed.): Anadolu'da doğdu: 60. yaşinda Fahri Işıká armağan = Festschrift for Fahri Işık on his 60th birthday. Ege Yayınları, Istanbul 2004, p. 334.
  6. ↑ IGR III No. 772: Αὐτοκράτορι Καίσαρι Τραιανῷ Ἁδριανῷ ... ( digitized version ).
  7. ↑ Nihal Tüner Önen: Hadrian traveling in eastern Mittelmeeranhand new inscriptions from Phaselis. In: Adalya. Volume 16, 2013, p. 100.
  8. ↑ For the capitals see: Mohammad Nassar: Composite Capitals on Hadrian's Gates during Roman Period: A Preliminary Study. In: Mediterranean Archeology and Archaeometry. Volume 8, Issue 2, 2008, pp. 3–20 ( PDF ).
  9. ↑ For the tendril see: Joachim Kramer: For some architectural parts of the grave temple west of Side. In: Bonner Jahrbücher . Volume 183, 1983, p. 153 f.
  10. ↑ Illustration of the entablature in: Karl Lanckoroński, Eugen Petersen, George Niemann: Cities of Pamphylia and Pisidia. Volume 1: Pamphylia. Freytag, Leipzig 1890, plate VII ( digitized ).
  11. ^ Francis Beaufort: Karamania or a Brief Description of the South Coast of Asia-Minor. R. Hunter, London 1817, pp. 120 f. ( Digitized version ).

Coordinates: 36 ° 53 ′ 7.1 ″  N , 30 ° 42 ′ 30.1 ″  E